OFFSHORE: Not a bad week on the offshore scene. Light to moderate (5 to 15 knot) northerlies over the weekend but freshening at times as the week progressed. Every day was pretty much fishable though, if not sometimes a bit lumpy. The fish were on the bite, however, which was all that mattered.
The bar crossing was quite straight forward and with the swell in the 1.0m to 1.5m range, all of the local reefs were on the agenda. Report and photos from Paul Glover, skipper of Wild Thing 2... "We fished Double Island Point on Saturday. Wind was about 5 to 10 knots variable. Light current to the south. We caught moses perch, tusk fish, gold spot wrasse, Maori cod, cobia, pearl perch and some nice scarlet sea perch." From that nine hour charter is James Warren from Riverhills, Queensland (above) with a couple of scarlet sea perch and below, Brett Major from Quakers Hill, NSW with his cobia. WT2 fished there again on a private charter on Sunday and came back with moses perch, venus tusk fish, pearl perch, jewfish and quality amberjack.

Then we have this report and photos from Trekka 2 skipper Brooke Wignall... "We fished D.I on Sunday on a seven hour charter. Conditions were good with a light north westerly breeze in the morning swinging to the north and increasing strength in the afternoon. Swell was 1.0m with a slight current to the south. We caught coral trout, saddletail sea perch, moses perch, venus tusk fish, pearl perch, golden trevally, spotty mackerel, gold spot cod and Maori cod." Pictured above is Craig McFarlane from Brisbane with a coral trout and Remo from Arcadavale with a nice scarlet sea perch saddletail snapper.

From closer in, check out this weekend report and photos from Cougar One skipper Theo Hewish... "Hey Bill. We did a seven hour charter to North Reef on Saturday morning. Conditions were good with a light southerly breeze and no current. We caught Maori cod, pearl perch, fry pan snapper, grass sweetlip and trevally. And on Sunday morning we ran a five hour charter to Sunshine Reef in great conditions. Almost no wind and no current run at all. We caught pearl perch, venus tusk fish, grass sweetlip, coral trout and Maori cod. Cheers, Theo." Pictured above left is deck hand Wills Palfery with a couple of quality Maori cod from the North Reef trip and Peter Mathews (above right) with a nice coral trout. Caught on a live bait at Sunshine Reef.
Plus this report from Chicko Vella, Davo's Tackle World... "Good morning. Decided to take our newest Davo's team member Sky Ross (above) for a test out in the choppy conditions on Wednesday. And I'm glad to say she passed with flying snapper colours! Apart from a bust-off from a large Spanish mackerel we managed a few nice grass sweetlip and a quality knobby. All fish went for the good old floating pilly. Back nice and early. Cheers, Chicko."

Wild Thing 2 skipper Paul Glover fished Sunshine Reef on Tuesday... "Wind was about 5 knots in the morning increasing to 20 knots by lunchtime. with a moderate current to the south. We caught good tusk fish, moses perch, goat fish, grassy sweetlip, pearl perch and coral trout." Pictured above left is Ian Markwell from Buderim with a standout coral trout. And Bruce Waldron from the Noosa Offshore Fishing Club (above right) hit Laguna Bay around 6.30am on Tuesday morning hoping to pick up a few early morning Spaniards. The Halls Reef stretch wasn't looking too hopeful so after half an hour with no result he headed on out to Sunshine Reef. It was a good move because within 45 minutes he had three Spaniards on board and was on his way home. All fish went for trolled Davo's pilchards. There were a few good northern bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and bonito on the prowl out that way as well.
The Spaniards were certainly on the bite in Laguna Bay over the weekend with some good fish (to 13kg+) responding well to floated and trolled whole slimy mackerel baits around Jew Shoal and trolled gar along the Hall's Reef stretch. Chad Martin from Wynnum (above) put in a bit of time on the Halls Reef stretch in his kayak on Saturday morning and picked up this 13.5kg Spaniard for his efforts. It went for a trolled, lead weighted whole garfish.

COASTAL: The open beaches showed a little bit more life this week with bream and tailor responding well to fresh mullet strips at Castaways Beach and whiting going for peeled prawns at Sunshine Beach. Further up Halco Twisties were working well on small longtail tuna off the Fairy Pools. Across the bay whiting (on pippi) and flathead (on live herring) were active around the First Cutting while the rocks at D.I. produced school jewfish and yellowtail kingfish.

ESTUARY: Report from Jimmy Free, Noosa River Fishing Safaris... "Hey Bill. The fishing has been awesome. The usual flathead and mangrove jacks at the mouth. The channel that broke through at the Frying Pan has been producing so much whiting on the run in. Plenty of bait still getting about just about everywhere. The trevally are loving most deeper channels in the river. Got a nice star sandgazer on Thursday at the mouth.
Mark Harry from Albury, Victoria (below) landed a golden trevally on a prawn near the river mouth on Thursday morning's charter. It went 56cm on the tape. He fought it for about five minutes. Really knew what he was doing with this fish. We released it after a couple of quick pix. Cheers mate, Jimmy"
And this detailed report from local angler Jack Lucas, below left... "G'day Guys! Lena and I fished the Noosa river on Wednesday arvo. Picked up a few whiting at the Frying Pan but things were otherwise slow, so as the sun started setting we decided to move towards the mouth. As the light faded the action intensified, with fresh mullet strips working a charm. After missing a couple, and losing one to a large bull shark, we boated this 52cm, 2.25kg jack and later, a 60cm 2kg greenback. The two standouts of a pretty hot session! Landed at approximately 7pm on mullet strips with ganged hooks!"

Paul from Melbourne (below) caught and released a 72cm flathead near the mouth on Saturday's Noosa River Fishing Safari. It went for a prawn bait.

Mangrove jacks and golden trevally were on the prowl opposite the Woods Point Rock Wall, the current line and Munna Point. The goldens going for prawn lures including Squidgy Prawn Wriggler Tail, Fuse Tripple Tail and prawn head plastics. The jacks were responding well to live fish baits, strips of mullet and lures like the Samaki Thumper Tail and Zerek Live Mullet. From Dal Wild, above right... "My first Mangrove Jack. 46cms. Only fishing for 3 years. Now a local in Noosaville. Caught on Wednesday at back of Noosa River Caravan Park on old Daiwa Laguna spin rod and old Shimano Sedona 2500 reel. Both bought from Davo's a long time ago. 10lb braid and a small 1/0 circle hook. Bait was a strip of mullet with a mullet lure scent added."
Apart from that there were lots of small flathead chasing trolled lures in the back of Noosa Sound. Also good numbers of mud crabs in Weyba Creek and the waters from the Tewantin Ferry to the mouth of Lake Cooroibah.
Oh, and lots of just legal jacks in the upper end of the stretch between the lakes.
Last but certainly not least, this freshwater report from local young gun Eddie Walter, pictured above... "Hi Bill. Went on Lake MacDonald on Saturday and managed to land this 45cm beast on a trolled Storm Gomoku Crank in clear pink. It was released after these photos taken" Eddie also supplied us with a short video of the successful release which helped win him this week's $100.00 Davo's Tackle World/ChaseBaits Fish of the Week prize.